Description

Yuri Sakazaki has been kidnapped! Her big brother Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, his best friend, go search for her on the streets of South Town. As they go deeper and deeper they will find clues as to who ordered the kidnapping, the Sakazaki family's relation to the mob, and a person from their past.

The gameplay differs from most fighting games. In this game, you have a Spirit meter. A Spirit meter is in the game and will decrease as you perform special moves. It can be recharged, but doing so leaves you open to attack. When your health is almost gone, you can perform a secret combination that will unleash a deadly attack on your opponent - provided you have a full Spirit meter.

The arcade version doesn't allow you to play as Mr. Big and the elusive Mr. Karate.

Forums

Trivia

Continuity

According to SNK's original timeline, the events that happen in this game take place ten years before Fatal Fury; however, when the The King of Fighters series was created, both timelines were merged, even though the backstories for both series remained mostly the same.

Innovations

Not only did Art of Fighting have the honor of being the first fighting that introduced the 'camera zoom' - where the camera zooms in whenever the fighters are close together, and zooms out when the fighters move away from each other - but it also was the first to utilize a 'spirit meter'. Every time a fighter executes a special move, the spirit meter is depleted accordingly, and the more powerful the special move, the more it depletes. When this meter is empty, special moves can no longer be executed.

Title translation

The Japanese title, Ryūko no Ken, translates to "Dragon and Tiger Fist".